The Challenge of Change in the Civil Service: 2004 in Retrospect
| Date | 01 October 2004 |
| Author | Barry J. O'toole |
| Published date | 01 October 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207670401900401 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The
Challenge
of
Change
in
the
Civil
Service:
2004
in
Retrospect
Barry
J.
O'Toole
University
of
Glasgow
Abstract
This
is
an
article
of
record.
It
presents
information
about
what
has
happened
in
relation
to
the
British
Civil
Service
in
the
last
year
or
so,
analyses
that
information
and
presents
a
discussion
of
it.
The
article
has
no
methodological
pretensions,
and
is
essentially
based
on
official
documents
and
other
publicly
available
records
or
information.
Three
of
the
most
important
of
these
sources
are:
first,
the
evidence
and
report
of
the
Hutton
Inquiry,
which
revealed
much
about
the
inner
workings
of
government;
secondly
the
report
of
the
subsequent
Butler
Inquiry;
and
thirdly,
the
report
of
the
Gershon
Inquiry
on
the
delivery
of
public
services
and
the
statement
by
the
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer,
which
partly
dealt
with
some
of
the
matters
raised
in
the
Gershon
report.
There
is
one
other
set
of
documents
that
provides
an
overall
framework
for
discussion,
and
these
relate
to
a
'Civil
Service
Reform
Event'
held
in
February
2004,
addressed
by
the
Prime
Minister
and
the
Head
of
the
Civil
Service.
These
documents
reveal
the
attitudes
of
those
in
charge
of
the
civil
service
and,
as
with
the
other
documents
discussed,
contain
information
and
recommendations
that
are
vital
to
understand
changes
in
the
civil
service
over
the
period
under
review,
and
potential
changes
for
the
future.
To
some
extent
this
is
countered
by
the
thoughtful
deliberations
of
the
Public
Administration
Select
Committee,
which
published
a
report
including
a
draft
Civil
Service
Bill,
but
the
overriding
impression,
despite
lip-service
to
the
contrary,
is
of
a
government
out
of
sympathy
with
public
service.
Introduction
This
is
an
essay
of
record.
Its
purpose
is
to
describe,
analyse
and
discuss
the
most
important
developments
in,
and
deliberations
about,
the
British
civil
service
over
the
past
year
or
so.
The
method
is
straightforward:
it
is
an
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
19
No.
4
Winter
2004
J
examination
and
assessment
of
publicly
available
materials,
for
example
official
documents
and
associated
sources,
journalistic
commentary
on
those
sources,
or
the
views
of
politicians,
officials
or
academic
observers
about
them.
The
most
important
of
these
documents
are:
first
the
report
and
associated
evidence
of
the
Hutton
Inquiry
(and
the
subsequent
Butler
Inquiry),
which
revealed
much
about
the
inner
workings
of
government;
secondly,
the report
of
the
Gershon
Inquiry
into
the
delivery
of
public
services
and
the
statement
by
the
Chancellor of
the
Exchequer
on
the
public
spending
review
which
dealt
in
part
with
some
of
the
issues
raised
by
the
Gershon
report;
and
thirdly,
the
statement
by
the
Prime
Minister
on
civil
service
reform
at
a
'Civil
Service
Reform
Event'
held
in
February
(House
of
Commons,
2004a;
House
of
Commons,
2004b;
Gershon,
2004;
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer,
2004;
Prime
Minister,
2004;
Cabinet
Office,
2004a).
These
documents
and
other
sources,
and
other
documents
to
be
discussed
in
this
article,
are
important
because
they
reveal
the
attitudes
of
politicians
and
officials
about
the
civil
service,
present
insights
into
the
everyday
work
of
the
civil
service,
and
enable
scholars
and
other
interested
citizens
to
attempt
an
assessment
of
both
the
role
and
the
values
of
the
civil
service
in
the
twenty
first
century.
The
concluding
comments
are
centred
on
speeches
delivered
and
documents
discussed
at
the
'Civil
Service
Reform
Event'
held
on
24
February
2004.
The
Hutton
Inquiry
and
its
Implications
for
the
Civil
Service
Arguably
the
most
notable
event
for
British
public
administration
was
the
publication
of
the
Hutton
report
in
January
2004.
Lord
Hutton,
a
Lord
of
Appeal
in
Ordinary,
had
been
commissioned
by
the
Secretary
of
State
for
Constitutional
Affairs,
Lord
Falconer
of
Thoroton,
to
investigate
the
circumstances
surrounding
the
tragic
death
on
18
July
2003
of
Dr
David
Kelly,
a
civil
servant
in
the
Ministry
of Defence.
The
report
found
that
Kelly
had committed
suicide
(House
of
Commons,
2004a,
paras
14
and
157).
Essentially
Kelly
had
been
identified
by
government
sources
as
the
informant
for
a
story
by
the
then
BBC
correspondent,
Andrew
Gilligan,
that
the
government
knew
that
a
claim
they
had
made
in
order
to
strengthen
the
case
for
war
against
Iraq
was
untrue.
The
identification
of
Kelly,
and
the
pressure
to
which
he
had
been
subject
in
the
preceding
period
by
the
Ministry
of
Defence,
senior
officials
in
Downing
Street
and
the
Intelligence
Services,
led
to
media
speculation
that
these
were
proximate
causes
of
his
apparent
suicide.
The
intensity
of
media
pressure,
combined
with
the
political
sensitivity
of
the
matters
in
question,
led
to
the
commissioning
of
Lord
Hutton
to
conduct
the
inquiry.
It
should
be
noted
that,
at
the
outset
of
his
report,
Lord
Hutton
specifically
stated
that
he
was
satisfied
that
no
one
realised
or
should
have
realised
that
the
pressures
referred
to
above
might
drive
Kelly
to
take
his
own
life
or
contribute
to
his
decision
to
do
so
(para.
15).
It
should
also
be
noted
that
the
government
was
largely
exonerated
of
any
wrong
doing
in
relation
to
the
circumstances
surrounding
Kelly's
death,
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
19
No.
4
Winter
2004
2
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